alright
by paperplanet
Summary: For them, everything was going to be alright.


**Disclaimer: Do not own Young Justice.**

* * *

.

_"You're all I want_

_You're all I need_

_You're everything, everything."_

_-Lifehouse, Everything._

* * *

.

Can anyone tell her why she was so afraid?

Maybe it had to do with the way her fingers seemed to fit with his perfectly. Maybe it had to do with the way he gazed at her with this indescribeable look that made her felt safe and secure. Or maybe, it had to do with the way the gun was pointed at her—so blatant even in the darkness of the night with the coldness of the metal pressing down on her skin.

"Put it down!"

She could hear his frantic yells, and she thought he shouldn't have sounded so—scared. But she couldn't actually bring herself to see him clearly because the drugs this criminal had injected in her veins made her dizzy and dammit why didn't see search behind the door? That's classic and she shouldn't have forgotten. But then again, '_he'_ shouldn't have distracted her with one of his stupid arguments either.

She could feel the man behind her trembled, and she struggled to breathe because the man's grip was just too tight. She heard the robber screaming incoherent things that probably meant something to anyone else but to the person who was being drugged. She caught some words, though. Mostly they sounded like "I'll kill her" or "Stay back" and etc, etc.

Honestly? All she could remember and process was his voice. Wally's.

"_Please don't... I—you don't know what you're doing..."_

"—_We can talk about this slowly..."_

"_I promise I—we won't call the cops..."_

"_Just...please, let her go."_

And it was so weird, because he was Wally West and Kid Flash.

He shouldn't have sounded like that.

The Wally West she knew wouldn't have sounded so desperate.

* * *

.

She woke up to the sound of screeching chair and blinked a few times to clear her blurred vision. And then there was him, wide eyed and guilty faced—but that was probably because the sound that had woken her up was because of him.

He was sitting on the chair beside of her sick-bed and he looked like he had seen better days. He was wearing his usual simple t-shirt and a worn-out jeans but there were dark circles under his eyes and dried blood on the hand that was reaching for hers.

So she murmured to him,"You look like crap."

And he replied,"Hello to you too."

His hand found hers, and his grip was almost too tight but she didn't mind. (She didn't know why she let him hold her hand, his hand was much larger than hers and it's warm—but whatever. She blamed it on the drugs.)

"How long was I out?" She licked her dry lips and Wally automatically reached for a glass of water on the bedside table.

"A couple of days. The drugs was pretty strong," he said, helping her to sit up so she could drink properly. She would have said something rude—because she hated to feel helpless, but she lacked the energy to do so. "We struggled to get all of it out of your system, but Batman got to it just in time."

She took a sip of water and felt more alive than before—she gulped the water almost greedily and Wally chuckled. "Slow down, Arty."

She scunched her nose when she finished drinking and leaned her body against the headboard. "Don't call me that."

He shrugged. "It suits you."

"Don't even start, Wallace."

Wally cringed as he put the glass back on the table. "Oh really? You really want to start this?"

She hummed tiredly, but her body felt weak and her eyelids were heavy so she slid down to a more comfortable position. "Maybe later, Baywatch. Do me a favor and shut up. I want to sleep. And please, don't stare at me while I'm sleeping because that's just plain creepy."

She could hear his laugh as he answered. "Artemis, the ever so polite."

The corner of her lips lifted as a grin but her eyes were shut and she couldn't see how the smile had slipped from his face and the light in his eyes had been replaced by a much deeper look.

And as she slipped into dream state, she thought she heard him said _I'm sorry_ but that could be her imagination.

After all, sorry for what?

* * *

.

There was something different about him, she pondered idly as she stirred the spoon between her fingers lazily with a cup of coffee in front of her. Grey eyes stared at the figure who was currently hunching over a big bowl of ice cream—you'll get used to see him eat after three years of knowing each other. The rain outside was pouring pretty hard and it was kinda weird that he chose to eat ice cream during this freezing weather, but she had given up on questioning his food choice. She quirked an eyebrow at him, "Hungry much?"

"You have no idea," he replied with his mouthful.

She had gotten out of the infirmary about a week ago. Ollie had been really over protective of her and had insisted that she needed to have more rest, so it was hard to convince everyone else that she was fine. Did she tell her that Wally had visited her everyday during her stay at the medical bay? And it was sweet and confusing at the same time. Because there was nothing between them at all. Okay maybe they kissed and they tried to give the thing a chance, but that was just not working out on both of them so she ended it.

But it was a really long time ago. (about a year and a half, to be precise.)

There was slight tension between them after that, but the bickering and the fighting helped to resort them back to the way they were. Truth to be told, she didn't know what he felt about the break up. He was a blunt and honest guy, he was also expressive and she always knew where she stood with him. But she honestly couldn't read him that night.

"_I'm sorry Wally—," she took a deep breath, letting her eyes drop to the ground. Anything but looking at him. "—I just think that we don't exactly fit for each other. I think we should end this."_

"_Artemis, look at me."_

_His voice was firm and she found herself complying to his request._

_Reluctantly lifting her eyes, she found his face oddly blank and his eyes oddly unreadable. "Is this what you want?"_

_The dim light didn't cover the color of his eyes, and she found herself suddenly unable to speak. She suddenly had the urge to say no, and i'm sorry and don't mind what i was saying because that's just the alcohol talking (but she didn't drink so that last reason wouldn't make sense). But instead, she nodded._

"_Say it."_

_Her throat felt raw and she swallowed but she answered him anyways though her voice sounded choked and a little raspy. "Yes."_

"_Alright."_

_Then he turned and walked away._

_Weird, she thought._

_In her head, she was the one who's supposed to walk away._

She was about to insult his eating habbits again, because that's what she had always done whenever she was bored—but then Dick came in, leaning on the doorsill with this grin plastered on his face. "I'm bored, Artemis. Let's train."

To say that she was excited, was an understatement. Let's just say that lying on a sick bed for two weeks was boring.

A grin mirrored his appeared on her face, "Seriously, why didn't you ask sooner?"

* * *

.

He aimed a punch to her stomach and she caught his arm, elbowing him on the chest. She laughed, because it's not everyday someone could touch the Batman's prodigy. She could see him scowl, and with a series of grace he was flipping in mid-air away from her.

"Losing your touch, Boy Wonder?"

"I was just simply overwhelmed because you and your boyf are back together," he snickered playfully, gesturing to Wally who was sitting on the corner of the room with disinterest as he turned some pages in his comic books. The speedster had claimed he had nothing better to do so he had followed them to the gym, lazily dragging himself after them. "It's about time, you know. Especially after his big freakout when that damn robber almost got you killed."

She felt heat rose in her cheeks. "We are not—"

" Speaking of which, you're not supposed to let your guard down."

And then the next thing she knew, she tripped on a thin thread. Oh, she should have known. The sensation of falling was too sudden and she hadn't prepared herself—she twisted her head just in time to see a kick Dick was throwing to the right side of her ribs—and she thought, _crap_, and remembered her broken right ribs, because 'that damn robber' had a pretty mean punch that had slammed her to the ground. She flinched, _I guess I'm going back to the sick bed._

But then there was a blur. A series of movement and she found herself wrapped in a pair of lean arms she was so familiar with, six feet away from Robin. "Watch out for her ribs, they haven't healed yet," what Wally West was saying with this seriousness she didn't know he possessed.

Dick landed smoothly on his feet, his brows furrowed from regrets (but there was glee painted on his face and she knew it involved what a certain speedster had done). "Oh, I'm sorry."

She nodded, in loss of words. "Uh—it's fine. I'm okay."

"I guess I—should leave," the dark haired teen said, leaving with a flurry of black and an echo of laughter. "Sorry again, Artemis."

Artemis blinked, still in daze. Alright, so first somebody should remind her how to breathe. And second—what the hell happened?

"Arty, are you okay?"

Oh, right. He happened.

She looked up to see his bright green eyes peering at her worriedly. His hair was messy as always and suddenly she was conscious of the way his arms were still wrapped around her waist. He had grown taller, she mused to herself. Well yes, she knew he had grown but she just...never noticed it. (or perhaps she did, but she refused to acknowledge it.) He had really changed a lot these past few years. He's not the annoying scrawny boy that she met during her first day on the team. (perhaps he's still annoying, but not scrawny, no.)

"Artemis?"

"Huh?"

"I asked you a question."

"I'm—I'm fine," her reply came out as a whisper and she would be lying if she said she knew why her heart was suddenly racing. Maybe it had to do with the way his fingers curl on her back. Maybe it had to do with the way their faces were so close. Maybe it had to do with the way she's pressed up against him in the way she used to be when they're watching the stars or lazying around on the couch a year and a half ago. She would be lying if she said she didn't have this sudden urge to lean up and kis—but then he let her go.

He let her go as if she burned.

He let her go as if she fucking burned.

"Good," he put his hands in his pockets so casually that she wanted to slap him. "You should take care of yourself better, Arty. Don't be so reckless. Besides, we need a good archer on the team."

Trust her when she say that she's an insensitive bitch.

She never cared about what other people thought of her unless it involved her family. Even then, she didn't actually care that much. They're criminals and everything, but they're her dysfunctional family. She had enough people talking horrible things behind her back but she didn't care. (or in her face, but she usually wins those arguments.)

And trust her when she say his words stung.

So he only saved her because they needed 'an archer' on the team? Because he sounded a lot like he's telling her that she's incapable. Incapable of what, it didn't really occur to her but knowing that he doubted her was like a bullet through her chest.

"Huh," she laughed coldly, turning around, suddenly bitter. "Isn't that great?"

And she stomped away, feeling his confused gaze followed her.

* * *

.

_We need a good archer on the team—yeah right._

A kick to the right, back straight and a punch to the left, all the while she was doing this back-flip that would definitely make Robin proud. So what if that Kid Jerk doubted her? It didn't mean she had to throw everything away just because of him. It's her life, she could do anything she bloody wanted.

Dammit—she didn't even know what she was thinking. Everything just seemed to be a jumbled ball of mess consisted of thoughts involving a certain red head and honestly, all she was sure of was that she was actually angry at him.

"Artemis, Kid Flash! I need you guys to cover the right wing. M'Gann and Conner, left wing. Robin and I will search for the Joker in the main hall. Regroup at the main entrance on any sign of trouble. Be careful."

She heard Kaldur's voice in her mind and groaned to herself. Right. Right. Of course it had to be him.

But because she realised how important the mission was _(It's the Joker!),_ she settled on fuming silently to herself while she began running to the right side of the burning building—she heard his footsteps behind her and she scowled.

"What's your problem?"

She glanced back to see him staring at her, eyebrows lifted in this manner he did whenever he was annoyed. "Me? Don't mind me." A giant metalic robot thingy appeared, blocking their way. She latched herself onto one of the pillars and swung her body so that she landed on the robot's head. "I—am—," she took out an arrow and stabbed it firmly on the robot's supposed brain location. "—simply estatic." The robot made this whirling sound and with a count to three Artemis jumped just in time with the metalic's explosion.

"Liar—," Wally growled angrily, throwing a kick and a super speed series of punches to six guys with machine guns. "—you haven't talked to me in weeks and those glares," he expertly dodged the bullets that were fired at him by some stupid goons and casually swung the gun away with the back of his right hand, taking aback the goon before using the moment to throw a particularly hard hit on the goon's neck to knock him out. "—don't think I don't notice you glaring at me all the time."

"Arrogant much? I've got better things to do, sorry to disappoint."

He sent a burning glare at her direction and then they continued running.

How big was the place? All they seemed to do was running and running and throwing kicks and punches and occasionally shooting arrows here and there.

He punched. She ducked. He kicked. She dodged. The man hit her, hard and she hissed in pain. She was slammed against the wall and felt the sickening crack of her skull but she stood up and charged at the guy. She threw him against the wall and threatened him with a-harder-than-she-meant-to-and-don't-blame-her-because-_he_-made-her-angry-all-the-time punch to his gut. "Where is the Joker?" She hissed, seeing Wally sending a goon that was twice his size to the floor with a roundhouse kick from the corner of her eyes.

"Looking for me, pretty?"

Her neck turned so fast that it was amazing it didn't snap. She let go of the man, faintly registering the thud as he hit the floor.

The Joker was standing there with this crazy grin on his face and a knife pressed against Wally's neck.

_Fuck this._

She adopted a defensive stance with her bow ready and silently cursed the world and Wally for being in that situation.

"_Guys, The Joker is here and he got Wally!" _she convinced herself that she didn't sound frantic, not at all.

"_Location acquired,"_ she heard M'Gann's voice, _"We're on our way!"_

"_Artemis, continue stalling and please don't do anything rash, we'll be there as fast as we can,"_ Kaldur said, his voice firm.

_Obviously not fast enough._

She caught his eyes and felt her stomach turned at how solemn they looked. _Arty...run, s_he heard him say in her mind. Oh she heard him all right. But then she was yelling.

"What do you think you're doing, Kid Idiot? Getting caught just like that? Use your super speed for god sake!"

"Ooh, feisty. I like it," the mad clown was chuckling with delight.

She could see his eyes widened but he replied anyways, "I'm sorry, at least I'm not the one who was captured by some low class robbers, this is the Joker we're talking about—," he made a dramatic silence just to emphasise, _"—The Joker_."

"True, true," the clown was laughing along in agreement.

She gritted her teeth, annoyed. "Ugh! I would love to hit you right now. Too bad you're already captured."

"Aha! Nice try, pretty! You think by saying that I would let him go for you to hit, but then you would shoot me with your shiny arrow, nice try indeed but...," the psycho tilted his head a little bit and licked his lips. "...let's get the stake of the game higher, shall we?"

She could only watch in horror as the blade swung and stabbed the speedster's stomach.

She felt numb. She felt her body was oddly numb and unresponsive as she heard him scream, felt her heart wrenched as he saw him struggle to breathe and felt anger she had never experienced before as the Joker cupped Wally's pained face, laughing in amusement.

"That hurt, didn't it?"

To his sick amusement, he twisted the knife, earning him another pained scream.

Her mind raced with millions of thoughts but she felt solemn, and because she couldn't think of any other way, she prayed Wally would forgive her.

And she shot the arrow...at the speedster's shoulder.

The impact of the blow shocked the Joker and his grip on Wally loosened for that milisecond but it was enough for Artemis to fire another blow that would fracture the Joker's lung and another that would cause a pretty big explosion. The second arrow managed to get the Joker to let go of Wally and the third and final arrow managed to give the red head distraction to run and grabbed her—before he supersped away (after kicking the Joker once, of course.).

Everything seemed to happen so fast before she could barely even blinked.

The next thing she knew, she was at the bioship, with his arms wrapped around her so tight and his face buried in her hair. He said nothing, but his entire body was shaking and his fingers were drawing soothing circles on her back. They were a tangled ball of limbs and legs and Kaldur was trying to pry him away from her, saying that she's alright and that they have to treat his wounds but his grip remained firm.

_KF, come on, we need to stich you up. _

_Wally, please..._

_Kid Flash, let her go._

"Wally?" Her voice sounded hoarse and her vision was blur. Her hands gently move his head so that she's staring at his eyes. They seemed hollow. "I—I'm alright, we need to stitch you up, okay? And then—," she swallowed thickly. "And then we'll watch that horrible movie marathon you've planned that we never got to watch, how about that?"

His lips twitched a little and there was this small spark in his eyes. "That sounds nice."

"Okay?" She brushed a stray of hair away from his face.

"Okay," he agreed slowly, letting her go.

_Everything will be alright? Won't it?_

* * *

.

Her head hurt like hell.

She blinked, because the hospital light was too blinding and she groaned, covering her eyes with her right arm.

"You know, it's weird how you were unconscious longer than I was. To think that I was the one who was stabbed by the Joker."

She resisted the urge to grin as she uncovered her eyes and saw the speedster sitting casually on the chair beside her sick bed. This routine of waking up in this infirmary to find him there was ridiculous, but she played along anyway.

"Oh, really?"

"Yup," he smirked. "And I got this super-awesome scar on my shoulder, it hurts, if you asked me."

"I didn't."

"Uh-huh. And whose fault was it that I got that scar?"

"—uh, yours?"

He laughed, "Be glad for my super speed healing babe, or I may won't forgive you for the rest of my life."

She froze at the nickname. He hadn't called her that since...well, since they broke up.

She averted her gaze and straightened herself, "—I'm sorry, I didn't mean to...I couldn't think of any other way."

"Hey," he reached for her hand and his fingers curled around hers. "I know that, babe. In fact, I should thank you for saving my life. Although perhaps some other time you should refrain yourself from leaving me scars, I can't have you ruining my dashing good looks."

"Jerk."

"Why were you mad at me?"

She couldn't pretend the change of topic wasn't predictable, but it still took her by surprise.

"Nothing."

"Was it something I said?"

"It's always something you said."

"So it was something I said."

"Pretty much."

"Which one was it?"

"Guess."

"Oh come one, you can't be that mean."

"Try me."

"Whatever it was, Artemis," she looked at him, saw his jaw clenched and head bowed. "I'm sorry and I didn't mean it. Okay? I'm sorry."

She knew. She knew because it was just her who was being stupid and knew that he didn't even mean it that way—but...

"It's okay, it was me...it was just me," she admitted, shrugging. "I was stupid and disappointed—," _because of you._"—so it's not entirely your fault."

He looked at her incredulously. "So it was you but it's not _entirely_ my fault?"

"Alright! Okay?" She threw her hands up _exasperatedly. "You were so confusing and this is stupid but I like you but I don't know what you're thinking half the time and you switch from sweet to being a jerk so easily and I really don't know what to feel and—"_

He kissed her.

The most effective way to shut her up, it seems.

The kiss was slow and tentative but it was sure and it's Wally.

It's Wally.

The kiss did leave her in a state of daze but she was not dreaming when he said, "I love you."

"I have loved you since the beginning, and—uh," he laughed awkwardly, and his eyes were soft and sincere, and it's him."—it has always been you."

Her breath hitched and her eyes watered—she was pretty sure she's about to cry. "But—why did you agree to...?"

He lifted a hand to brush a tear that was about to slip down her cheek tenderly. "To break up? Because that's what you wanted, and though I would be lying to say it didn't hurt—Arty, and this would sound cheesy and everything—I would do anything for you, you know that?"

Grey eyes met green. "You're right, Baywatch. It's cheesy. Please don't say anything like that again because I'm about to puke."

A grin. "So, what about that movie marathon that you promised?"

"Ugh, we're really going to watch those boring Flash documentations?"

"Yup, all nine of them. And babe, you promised. I'll get the popcorn!"

He stood up excitedly and she couldn't help but smile at his antics.

"Wally?"

"Yes, Arty?"

"I love you too."

And then he grinned, this smile so blinding and unwavering, and her heart did this flip-flop and the world seemed to disappear from around her and it was just him now, him and her.

And really, everything was going to be alright.

_/"Aha! Conner! You owe me ten bucks!"_

"_Damn it, Robin."_

"_Kaldur, you too."_

"_Uh—okay."_

"_Awww, they're so cute together!"_

"_Be quiet M'Gann, you'll blow our covers."_

"_Don't think I don't hear you from here."_

"_Oh hey, Artemis. Feeling better?"/_

* * *

_.  
_

**A/N: I'm sorry because this is highly cheesy and the story didn't even make sense and most importantly, sory for OOCness. Do please leave a review!**

**Sincerely,**

**Grifter912.**


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